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Psalm 73:21-26...
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength[a] of my heart and my portion forever.

Acts 20:24...However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

Jeremiah 29:11...For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

John 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."

‎1 Thessalonians 5:16-18...Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Exodus 14:14...The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.

Galatians 6:17...Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

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Mark Twainisms

“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”

“Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.”

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”

“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”

“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”

“When angry, count four. When very angry, swear.”

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G is for God #AtoZChallenge

I don’t know how anyone goes through the adoptive process – as adoptive parents OR birth parents – without God. I know that adoption is not limited to believers, but I honestly don’t know how those who don’t find their strength in God are able to do it. Adoption is hard. Really hard. Yes, the blessings do far outweigh the difficulties, and it really is worth it, but it is not for the faint of heart.

When we started five plus years ago (with a Christian agency that had a great reputation), I was excited and nervous…and scared. I had heard the horror stories of changed minds and children being ripped from adoptive parents’ arms months or years after the fact. But I also knew that there were red flags present in those situations, and that making sure we chose a good agency, one that made sure all the details were done right, and was a believing agency to boot, would protect us.

What I didn’t foresee at that time, and couldn’t articulate until much later, was that just having the Christian tag on the agency doesn’t make it the right agency for us. I was confident when we went through our first home study, with a wonderful case worker with whom we connected instantly, that we had chosen the right agency. A few months into our initial year, I began to have doubts. Our profile was not being presented often…in fact, perhaps 3-4 times over the course of a year. Our social worker was also the director of the agency, and as I had more interactions with her, I became more and more in doubt of her enthusiasm for our family. I began to feel we did not have an advocate, and I began to doubt our suitability to be adoptive parents. I wondered what was wrong with us. With me. What was making us a family that no one wanted?

In retrospect, I see now that it was not that no one wanted us, but it was that few birth parents sawus. The reasons given were that we didn’t fit the profile desired by the birth families. I was really, really discouraged. What’s more, I didn’t have the words (ironic as that is) to articulate that to my husband…not until we moved away.

I am so grateful that we had (have) friends who are vigilant prayer warriors. I know that there were many, many prayers spoken on our behalf, and I know that were it not for that, I would have felt completely alone, and completely marginalized by our agency. I also see now that God was present throughout that entire, discouraging year, and rather than barring us from having our hearts’ desire, he was working diligently on my heart.

After our cross-country move, it took me over a year to gear up and be ready to try again. We were starting again from scratch. This time, when we underwent our home study, my heart was (finally) where it should have been all along. I finally prayed, without reservation: “Lord, I will take and love whatever child you have chosen for me. Period.” My heart was not there before. True, our (Christian) agency didn’t care for us in the way I would have liked. The director didn’t have the enthusiasm for us (or in my opinion, for her job in general) that I thought she should. She did disappoint me desperately, and I came to believe that if she had lost her enthusiasm and joy for this job, perhaps it was no longer the job for her.

But, my heart wasn’t prepared in the way it should have been, and God used that year to show me that. As soon as I let go of my fears and doubts about WHO I couldparent, God opened up the door that brought our beautiful son into our home.

We had decided to pursue adoption through foster care. We had not made any limitations with regard to race or ethnicity, we were flexible in what special needs we would consider, and we were open to more than one child, of any age up to our biological son’s age.

We got a call from our agency, requesting us…appealing to us…to consider joining the domestic adoption program. They had more birth moms than they had adoptive families to present. They desperately needed more adoptive families in the program. I saw Godall over that. How could we say no? We couldn’t. and in that moment we set the wheels in motion that brought our son home to us.

If I wasn’t convinced in God’s providence before (I was), I have seen it firsthandnow. God wants to give us the desires of our hearts, but He also wants us to trust Him completely, and trust that He loves us and has our very best interests at heart. I had to trust Him completely, and stop trying to engineer the outcome I wanted, and as soon as I did that, he gave me the best possible outcome, one that I could neither have engineered nor foreseen.

oh my, how God is growing you and guiding you. I don’t know how people get through life without God either, it doesn’t matter what the issue. Nothing makes sense or has purpose without His input. You are such a loving compassionate person, I think adoptive parents are particularly open. God bless you on this emotional journey.

As a Christian, I feel the same way about EVERYTHING in life – especially the difficult and stressful times in life. I can’t imagine making a decision without prayer. I love hearing about your faith on your adoption journey.
AND I love the song Great is Thy Faithfulness!!!

Good on you for sticking to your desire to adopt, even in the face of so many obstacles. I’ve heard so many stories about how it’s so much harder to adopt nowadays than it was a few generations ago, when orphanages still existed. My surviving uncle and his wife have adopted two girls, sisters, in addition to their older two biological daughters. My aunt is a school social worker and deliberately wanted slightly older kids and last-chance kids whom no one else wanted. She and my uncle have done wonders with the older girl, though the younger one still has some problems and can’t live full-time with them.

Thanks! It sounds as if your aunt & uncle were committed to doing the extraordinary, and I admire that so much. We have friends who are struggling with one of their adopted children, and it is sad to see, but I am in awe of how they handle it. Thank you for sharing this with me, and for stopping by!